Remission

vickiek811
vickiek811 Member Posts: 20
in Breast Cancer #1

Remission

When is IDC and DCIS, stage 2A, grade 3, ER+, PR+, HER2- considered in remission? I had a lumpectomy with clear lymph nodes and clean margins. Treatment involves 30 rounds of radiation and 5 years Tamoxifen, then another 5 years of another hormone therapy drug. No one has ever told me when it is actually in remission....is it now since there is no lymph node involvement and margins were clean? Or, is it after radiation?

Comments

  • cinnamonsmile
    cinnamonsmile Member Posts: 1,187 Member
    #2
    I had only DCIS and had a

    I had only DCIS and had a double mastectomy. I had clean margins, so I didn't need rads. I was told I was NED (no evidence of disease) after the surgery, since I had no breasts hence no breast cancer left.

    Be sure to write this down as a question for your doctors!

  • desertgirl947
    desertgirl947 Member Posts: 653 Member
    #3
    I have heard a variety of

    I have heard a variety of anwers to this.

    My surgery got rid of the cancer. The chemo and rads were meant to be "insurance."  I currently do hormonal therapy.  I could probably say I was in remission after the surgery; but I go with when I finished rads.

  • button2
    button2 Member Posts: 421
    #4
    My doctor says remission is

    My doctor says remission is in 5 years after surgery. Until then, I am NED (no evidence of disease). She told me not to worry about all these terms though. They are just artificial designations. People can get cancer 9 months later or 9 years later. Even staging, while useful for deciding treatment options, really is just a degree of cancer designed by scientists. I think the main thing we should do as patients is eat right, get rest, do proper testing and take our meds.

  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #5
    I took had

    I took had DCIS-2lumpecomties, radiation and 5 yrs of tamoxfien & hysterectomy. I have never heard the word remission.

     

    I never thought I was a survior until I came to this site to see IF I was or just someone who HAD cancer.

     

    I have been off Tamoxifen for 18 mths now

     

    Denise

  • Lilly9
    Lilly9 Member Posts: 155
    #6
    disneyfan2008 said:

    I took had

    I took had DCIS-2lumpecomties, radiation and 5 yrs of tamoxfien & hysterectomy. I have never heard the word remission.

     

    I never thought I was a survior until I came to this site to see IF I was or just someone who HAD cancer.

     

    I have been off Tamoxifen for 18 mths now

     

    Denise

    I had IDC - 8.5 cm - 8 rounds

    I had IDC - 8.5 cm - 8 rounds of chemo, double mastectomy with lymph nodes - 2 were positive - 33 rounds of radiation.   I asked my Dr when will we know if I'm in remission - he said - when you live to be an old lady.  He went on to explain that "remission" wasn't a term he believed in using because cancer can come back at any time.   I'm NED (no evidence of disease)    I had a brother that died of CML.   He had a bone marrow transplant and was 5 years out and the Dr's declared him in "remission"  6 months later it came back with a vengeance and took him in a matter of weeks.  I think with any form of cancer you can never be sure.  So I take comfort in the words - no evidence of disease

  • GlowMore
    GlowMore Member Posts: 789 Member
    #7
    Lilly9 said:

    I had IDC - 8.5 cm - 8 rounds

    I had IDC - 8.5 cm - 8 rounds of chemo, double mastectomy with lymph nodes - 2 were positive - 33 rounds of radiation.   I asked my Dr when will we know if I'm in remission - he said - when you live to be an old lady.  He went on to explain that "remission" wasn't a term he believed in using because cancer can come back at any time.   I'm NED (no evidence of disease)    I had a brother that died of CML.   He had a bone marrow transplant and was 5 years out and the Dr's declared him in "remission"  6 months later it came back with a vengeance and took him in a matter of weeks.  I think with any form of cancer you can never be sure.  So I take comfort in the words - no evidence of disease

    Just Words***

    It's all just words...........Remission...... NED..... but we all know we have or have had CANCER...and we hate it that it happened and we can't believe that it happened to US....and we get so afraid and we almost go nuts because our Lives will NEVER be the same.    But the thing is....we do the best we can...and we go forward each day and face what we have to face.  I have found that it is best not to dwell on all those "Words"....and at the beginning I decided that I could not live in FEAR....so I put that word aside as well.

    Since that time ... of course anxiety comes and goes....but with the help of God I have been able to not let it take over and for some unknown reason I am still here....twelve years ago I was doing the Chemo ...and facing the Radiation....  but now I am facing Old Age and why this all happened to me is something I ponder about.   In my very darkest hour during the chemo ...when I thought that I would SURELY DIE.... I remember calling out to Jesus Christ to please, please help me.... and that is the honest to God Truth.

    Sending prayers for strength to face what you must face........and please know we all care.      Glo

  • camul
    camul Member Posts: 2,537
    #8
    my onco never used remission.
    I was no evidece of disease for 8 1/2 years, then I was srage iv with mets to skin and bones, then added liver, then after a new chemo and herceptin, mets to bonrs and connective tissur. Remission has never been used w/my breast cancer. Maybe your onco looks at it differently.
    Every dr. I have seen uses different methods of description as well as chemos, some use tumor markers, some dont like them.....This is another area that has never been clear and I an on year 15.now fighting this neast and s/e from all the treatments and meds.

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